Mastering Cost of Capital: Key Concepts and Calculation Methods

1. Chapter 12 Cost of Capital

2. Key Concepts and Skills • Know how to determine a firm’s cost of equity capital • Know how to determine a firm’s cost of debt • Know how to determine a firm’s overall cost of capital • Understand pitfalls of overall cost of capital and how to manage them

3. Chapter Outline • The Cost of Capital: Some Preliminaries • The Cost of Equity • The Costs of Debt and Preferred Stock • The Weighted Average Cost of Capital • Divisional and Project Costs of Capital

4. Why Cost of Capital Is Important • We know that the return earned on assets depends on the risk of those assets • The return to an investor is the same as the cost to the company • Our cost of capital provides us with an indication of how the market views the risk of our assets • Knowing our cost of capital can also help us determine our required return for capital budgeting projects

5. Required Return • The required return is the same as the appropriate discount rate and is based on the risk of the cash flows • We need to know the required return for an investment before we can compute the NPV and make a decision about whether or not to take the investment • We need to earn at least the required return to compensate our investors for the financing they have provided

6. Cost of Equity • The cost of equity is the return required by equity investors given the risk of the cash flows from the firm • There are two major methods for determining the cost of equity • Dividend growth model • SML or CAPM

7. The Dividend Growth Model Approach • Start with the dividend growth model formula and rearrange to solve for RE

8. Dividend Growth Model Example • Suppose that your company is expected to pay a dividend of $1.50 per share next year. There has been a steady growth in dividends of 5.1% per year and the market expects that to continue. The current price is $25. What is the cost of equity?

9. Estimating the Dividend Growth Rate • One method for estimating the growth rate is to use the historical average • Year Dividend Percent Change • 1995 1.23 • 1996 1.30 • 1997 1.36 • 1998 1.43 • 1999 1.50 (1.30 – 1.23) / 1.23 = 5.7% Average = Or TVM: PV= FV= N= i=?=

10. Advantages and Disadvantages of Dividend Growth Model • Advantage – easy to understand and use • Disadvantages • Only applicable to companies currently paying dividends • Not applicable if dividends aren’t growing at a reasonably constant rate • Extremely sensitive to the estimated growth rate – an increase in “g” of 1% increases the cost of equity by 1% • Does not explicitly consider risk

11. The SML Approach • Use the following information to compute our cost of equity • Risk-free rate, Rf • Market risk premium, E(RM) – Rf • Systematic risk of asset, 

12. Example - SML • Suppose your company has an equity beta of .58 and the current risk-free rate is 6.1%. If the expected market risk premium is 8.6%, what is your cost of equity capital? • COST OF EQUITY = Risk-free return + Beta(return on market – risk-free return) • RE = 6.1 + .58(8.6) = 11.1% • Since we came up with similar numbers using both the dividend growth model and the SML approach, we should feel pretty good about our estimate

13. Advantages and Disadvantages of SML • Advantages • Explicitly adjusts for systematic risk • Applicable to all companies, as long as we can compute beta • Disadvantages • Have to estimate the expected market risk premium, which does vary over time • Have to estimate beta, which also varies over time • We are relying on the past to predict the future, which is not always reliable

14. Example – Cost of Equity • Suppose our company has a beta of 1.5. The market risk premium is expected to be 9% and the current risk-free rate is 6%. We have used analysts’ estimates to determine that the market believes our dividends will grow at 6% per year and our last dividend was $2. Our stock is currently selling for $15.65. What is our cost of equity? • Using SML: RE = • Using DGM: RE =

15. Cost of Debt • The cost of debt is the required return (or i%) on our company’s debt • We usually focus on the cost of long-term debt or bonds • The required return is best estimated by computing the yield-to-maturity on the existing debt • We may also use estimates of current rates based on the bond rating we expect when we issue new debt • The cost of debt is NOT the coupon rate • After-tax cost of debt is key.

16. Cost of Debt Example • Suppose we have a bond issue currently outstanding that has 25 years left to maturity. The coupon rate is 9% and coupons are paid semiannually. The bond is currently selling for $908.72 per $1000 bond. What is the cost of debt (before tax implications)? • N = PMT = FV = PV = • I = ? = YTM = ?=

17. Cost of Preferred Stock • Reminders • Preferred generally pays a constant dividend every period • Dividends are expected to be paid every period forever • Preferred stock is an annuity, so we take the annuity formula, rearrange and solve for RP • RP = D / P0

18. Cost of Preferred Stock - Example • Your company has preferred stock that has an annual dividend of $3. If the current price is $25, what is the cost of preferred stock? • RP = D / P0 • RP = ? =

19. Weighted Average Cost of Capital • We can use the individual costs of capital that we have computed to get our “average” cost of raising capital for the firm. • This “average” is the required return on our assets, based on the market’s perception of the risk of those assets, or the cost of raising funds to acquire/ support those assets • The weights are determined by how much of each type of financing that we use

20. Capital Structure Weights • Notation • E = market value of equity = # outstanding shares times price per share • D = market value of debt = # outstanding bonds times bond price • V = market value of the firm = D + E • A = Liabilities + Owners Equity = L + E • Weights • wE = E/V = percent financed with equity • wD = D/V = percent financed with debt

21. Example – Capital Structure Weights • Suppose you have a market value of equity equal to $500 million and a market value of debt = $475 million. • What are the capital structure weights? • V = • wE = E/V = • wD = D/V =

22. Taxes and the WACC • We are concerned with after-tax cash flows, so we need to consider the effect of taxes on the various costs of capital • Interest expense reduces our tax liability • This reduction in taxes reduces our cost of debt • After-tax cost of debt = i% or YTM after-tax • After-tax cost of debt = RD(1-TC) • Dividends are not tax deductible, so there is no tax impact on the cost of equity • WACC = (wt of equity X cost of equity) + (wt. of debt X after-tax cost of debt) • WACC = wERE + wDRD(1-TC)

23. Equity Information 50 million shares $80 per share Beta = 1.15 Market risk premium = 9% Risk-free rate = 5% Debt Information $1 billion in outstanding debt (face value) Current quote = 110 Coupon rate = 9%, semiannual coupons 15 years to maturity Tax rate = 40% Extended Example – WACC - I

24. Extended Example – WACC - II • What is the cost of equity? • RE = • What is the cost of debt? • N = PV = PMT = FV = YTM= i= RD?= • What is the after-tax cost of debt? • RD(1-TC) = ? =

25. Extended Example – WACC - III • What are the capital structure weights? • E = • D = • V = • wE = • wD = • What is the WACC? • WACC =

26. Table 12.1

27. Divisional and Project Costs of Capital • Using the WACC as our discount rate is only appropriate for projects that are the same risk as the firm’s current operations • If we are looking at a project that is NOT the same risk as the firm, then we need to determine the appropriate discount rate for that project • Divisions also often require separatediscount rates

28. Using WACC for All Projects - Example • What would happen if we use the WACC for all projects regardless of risk? • Assume the WACC = 15% Project Required Return IRR A 20% 17% B 15% 18% C 10% 12%

29. Pure Play Approach • Find one or more companies that specialize in the product or service that we are considering • Compute the beta for each company • Take an average • Use that beta along with the CAPM to find the appropriate return for a project of that risk • Often difficult to find pure play companies

30. Subjective Approach • Consider the project’s risk relative to the firm overall • If the project is more risky than the firm, use a discount rate greater than the WACC • If the project is less risky than the firm, use a discount rate less than the WACC • You may still accept projects that you shouldn’t and reject projects you should accept, but your error rate should be lower than not considering differential risk at all

31. Subjective Approach - Example

32. Chapter 12 Quick Quiz • What are the two approaches for computing the cost of equity? • How do you compute the cost of debt and the after-tax cost of debt? • How do you compute the capital structure weights required for the WACC? • What is the WACC? • What happens if we use the WACC for the discount rate for all projects? • What are two methods that can be used to compute the appropriate discount rate when WACC isn’t appropriate?